Cuffless Blood Pressure Measurement

Abstract

Cuffless blood pressure (BP) measurement has become a popular field due to clinical need and technological opportunity. However, no method has been broadly accepted hitherto. The objective of this review is to accelerate progress in the development and application of cuffless BP measurement methods. We begin by describing the principles of conventional BP measurement, outstanding hypertension/hypotension problems that could be addressed with cuffless methods, and recent technological advances, including smartphone proliferation and wearable sensing, that are driving the field. We then present all major cuffless methods under investigation, including their current evidence. Our presentation includes calibrated methods (i.e., pulse transit time, pulse wave analysis, and facial video processing) and uncalibrated methods (i.e., cuffless oscillometry, ultrasound, and volume control). The calibrated methods can offer convenience advantages, whereas the uncalibrated methods do not require periodic cuff device usage or demographic inputs. We conclude by summarizing the field and highlighting potentially useful future research directions. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Biomedical Engineering, Volume 24 is June 2022. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.

Provisional Decision-Making for Perioperative Blood Pressure Management: A Narrative Review

“…Appropriate BP monitoring is a prerequisite for obtaining accurate BP values and providing reliable guidance for perioperative BP management. The two most used methods for BP monitoring are intermittent oscillometric manometry with a noninvasive cuff and continuous intra-arterial invasive catheterization; however, cuffless BP measurement is an emergent popular field due to the clinical need and technology advances [ 17 , 18 ]. Intraoperative BP is measured using intermittent oscillometric manometry [ 19 ], which allows automatic, intermittent BP measurement, usually at 3–5 min intervals.…”

Cuffless blood pressure measuring devices: review and statement by the European Society of Hypertension Working Group on Blood Pressure Monitoring and Cardiovascular Variability

“…They may also facilitate self-monitoring of BP by patients with hypertension, thereby improving adherence to treatment and long-term BP control [7]. Many cuffless BP devices that use different technologies and have different intended uses are now available on the market, claiming that they provide accurate BP measurements [5][6][7][8][9][10][11]. Given the challenging potential of novel cuffless BP measuring approaches, some researchers, doctors, patients, and members of the public, are eager to use them, despite little understanding of their limitations and special issues in assessing their accuracy.…”

“…Aiming to provide a solution to the above issues, several approaches have recently been developed that use cuffless technologies to estimate BP based on sensors, signal processing and algorithms embedded in wearable devices, smartphones, pocket devices, or other types of devices [5][6][7]. The promise of cuffless wearable BP devices is to record BP comfortably and continuously with minimal user intervention.…”

Assessment of a Calibration-Free Method of Cuffless Blood Pressure Measurement: A Pilot Study

“…Also, we follow the ISO 81060-2 standard and the Bland-Altman plot statistical method to analyze data from 32 participants. We compare some cuffless technical characteristics in Table 1, including the currently popular cuffless methods [26] and potentially feasible calibration-free cuffless methods [27]. The advantages of our method are that it does not use intermittent inflation BPM for calibration and has the potential for beat-to-beat BP monitoring.…”